George f



(No Model.) i

G. F. W. HLMAN. PENCIL SHRPBNING GAGE AND POINT PRTECTR,

Patented Nov. 5, 1889.

WITNESSES:

Nv Perma mxo-mman vla-nimm nc.

or outer end of the case or shell ot the device.

UNITED STATES GEORGE F. IV; HOLMAN, OF

PATENT EEiCE.

THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

PENClL-SHARPENING GAGE AND POINT-PROTECTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 414,414, dated November 5, 1889.

Application iiled November 5, 1888. Serial-No. 289,998. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.'

Beit known that I, Lieutenant GEORGE F. IV. HOLMAN, of the United States Navy, residin g at Torpedo Station, Newport, in the county of Newport andState of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved Pencil-Sharpening Gage and Point-Protector, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a device for facilitating the easy and true sharpening of lead or other pencils or crayons by the aid of an ordinary knife and without soiling the hands or breaking the pencil-point. The device is also adapted for use as a protector or guard for a pencil-point The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts ot' the gage and protector, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specication, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure lis a front view of my improved pencil-sharpening gage and point-protector provided with a piece of erasing rubber, which forms a base or resistance piece to the pencil-point while the pencil is being sharpened. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal sectional elevation of the device, taken on the line n o in Fig. l, with a pencil or a part of one held in it in position to be sharpened, or so as to protect or guard the pencil-point. Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken on the line fw w in Fig. l. Fig. l is a cross-section taken on the line :v a: in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a front view of a modified form of the device, or one wherein a base-piece formed with the outer case or shell of the device constitutes the resistancepiece to the pencil-point. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sect-ion taken on the line y y in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a cross-section taken on the line e z, Fig. 5; and Fig. S is a perspective view of the pencil-clamp, which is fitted to the upper I will first describe one preferred form of the pencil-sharpenin g gage and pcintprotect or, with more special reference to Figs. 1*, 2, 3, et, and 8 of the drawings, as follows: The device, as here shown, consists of three partsan outer case, frame, or shell A, a clamp B,

, and with little or no endwise motion.

iitted for axial rotation at one end ot the case, and a piece of ordinary pencil-rubber or inkeraser C, iitted into the opposite end of the case.- The case A, which is preferably round in cross-section, may be made of metal, hard rubber, glass, hard wood,or any other suitable material, and is cut away diagonally at one side to provide an opening a., and forniing two sloping edges or walls a a and a lower edge a2, which ranges about at a right angle with the outer face of the case. The edges or walls a a slope inward about in thel saine plane to a point where they meet the edge or shoulder CL2, and a line drawn across the case at this point would bisect the axial center of the case. The pencilblamp B in its preferred form is made ot elastic or spring metal, and consists ot' a collar b, to which are attached a seriesof pendent fingers or plates b', four fingers being a preferred number. This clamp maybe made of a piece of met-al tube turned ott at the outside to produce the shouldered collar h and then slit lengthwise to produce the ilngers,which preferably are reduced in thickness and width toward their extremities. The bases of the slits between the vlingers may be enlarged at b2 by boring or otherwise, so as to prevent further splitting of the clamp and promote its durable elasticity. In fitting the clamp into the case A the outer part of the case will be counterbored to receive and stop the shouldered collar b of the clamp, and when the case is made of metal a projecting edge of it will be spun or turned inward over the clampl collar at ai* in a manner which will leave the clamp free to turn independently in the case and prevent its endwise movement therein. I ain not limited to making the pencil-clamp in precisely the manner above described or to fitting it into the case, as explained, provided tlie clamp may securely hold and also truly center the pencil passed into it through the open back or outer end ot the case and may turn with the clamped pencil in the case elastic rubber or eraser C is preferably turned into the internally-screw-threaded lower 0r outer end of the case A and projects beyond the case sufficiently to make an efiicient eraser to cancel pencil or ink lines or marks. The inner end of the rubber@ is preferably Thel convexed to allow the sharpened pencil-point to have a little lateral play on it during the sharpening of the pencil. t

The modified form of the device shown in Figs. 5,6, and 7 of the drawings is like the other device above described, except that the rubber base or resist-ance piece C is dispensed with and is substituted by a solid end portion D, preferably of the saine material of which the case-body is formed, and provided, it may be, with a soft-metal or rubber plug d, on the center of which the clamped pencil will rest while being sharpened. The top of that part of the end D which projects beyond the center of the device is laterally conveXed to give play to the pencil-point and prevent breaking of the exposed fragile lead of the pencil by the pressure of the sharpening knife or instrument. The rear outer half or portion of the end piece D is beveled at d to afford a convenient rest on the thumb of the hand holding the pencil-sharpening knife or cutter, and the vopposite portion d2 is cut away in like manner to give an appropriate end finish to the case.

The operation of the device is very simple and effective, as it is only necessary to pass the blunt pencil E intothe clamp B until its point touches the resistance-piece C or D, and then by passing the blade of a pocket or other knife or cutter along the faces a a at the opening a, these faces act as a gage to assure a uniform cutting away of the wood 4of the pencil, and as each cut is made or as each face or part of the blunted pencil-point is cut away to the plane of these gage-faces d a the pencil will be turned with the clamp B in the case to present another face to the action of the knife until all sides of the pencil-point are truly and uniformly cut away to produce a perfectly-sharpened pencil. The pencil will have a little lateral play in the case A while the knife is cutting it, due to the elasticity of the pencil-clamp; but the convexity of the resistancepiece, against which the pencil-point rests, allows the fragile point sufficient freedom of lateral movement to prevent breaking of it under the action of the knife or cutter.

With this device a pencil may be truly or evenly sharpened by any one so as to have a good point and without soiling the hands, and 4' Va tubular case adapted to receive a pencil and cut away diagonally at one side to provide gaging-faces for a knife or cutter, and an axially-rotatable pencil-clamp fitted into the case, substantially as herein set forth.

2. A pencil-sharpening gage consisting of a tubular case out away at one side to provide gaging-faces for a knife or cutter, a pencil-clamp fitted in the case, and a convex resistance-piece for the pencil-point, substantially as herein set forth.

3. The combination, in a pencil-sharpening gage and point-protector, of a case A, cut away at a to provide knife-gaging faces a a', a rotatable pencil-clamp B, fitted in the case, and a convexed rubber C, fitted at the outer ,end of the case and forming a resistancepiece to the pencil-point, substantially as herein set forth.

GEORGE F. W. HOLMAN.

Vitnesses:

HENRY L. GOODWIN, C. SEDGWICK.l 

